Brianna Kobrin's Blog

#1: Dancer at Pigalle's by Gino Severini I chose this oil painting as the most intriguing to me because of all of the movement that the picture displays. The composition used here was the Golden Triangle. This painting contains various organic and geometric shapes. When I first looked at this image, I was drawn in towards the sequins in the shape of a heart. From there, my eyes seemed to dance around the page. Before I looked at the description, I believed that there were spot lights that were focusing on the movement in the center. The description reveled to me that this is the moment of a dancer as she is twirling around and her dress is spinning. I really liked this painting especially because it included some 3D elements of parts of the dress. #2: Peonies by Odilon Redon I chose this painting because it is very elegant and simple from a far. It is more "clean cut" and recognizable than the first painting. Once you get closer to the painting, you can see

          In Ways of Seeing by John Berger, the aspect that struck me the most had to be the first sentence. It has a captivating nature about how it was worded. "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak" (7). This is a very simple concept, that I had never considered before. Once a child enters the world, they take everything in through their senses. Sight, even though very blurry and near-sighted at the beginning of life, is a child's way of exploring and trying to make sense of the world. I believe that this sentence sets the tone for the rest of the article as intriguing, powerful, and thought-provoking.           Another aspect that stuck out to me was the fact that seeing is different for everyone. All individuals can look at something and connect it to something else. "The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe" (8). I agree with this statement, because it emphasizes the fact that individua

          The paintings and photographs in this art gallery were by Gwen Hardie and Regina DeLuise. Although these two artists were featured in the same gallery, the did not initially collaborate to make their art similar. I think this aspect of the gallery was pretty cool how they created similar work, found each other, and then ended up in an art gallery together. I believe that the back and forth between photographs and skin tones makes for an interesting combination. Both the photos and paintings of skin seemed to evoke some sort of emotion from everyone in the room, even those who believed that the skin looked like planets.           The circles of skin tones were placed all around the room and each had a different color scheme. This smooth gradient-like oil painting was an interesting representation of skin. Usually, individuals may think of skin as textured, and may include lines or hair. If this was included in Hardie's depiction of the skin it would give the paintings a c

          The beginning of this chapter, Visibility , deals with the topic of Dante, and the way that he describes the cycles of Purgatory. It also talks about the aspects of imagination and high fantasy. I read Dante's Inferno back in high school for extra credit and from reading that I can say that book included various aspects of symbolism, metaphors, and eloquent language. Imagination and deep thought were necessary to be able to understand more than just the gist of the story, especially due to the complex ideas and descriptive thoughts.           On page 83 of Visibility , Calvino describes that the poet has to "imagine visual content of metaphors he uses to facilitate this process of visual evocation." I believe this is necessary not only for poets, but also other writers, readers, artists and others when trying to depict something visually. He then goes on to describe the two types of imaginative processes. One that has to do with words and imagining an image an

I agree with the initial statement made by Laura Hoptman and Peter Eleey that "art has the ability to change the world" (Saltz 1). The article gives examples of how art cannot physically change large scale problems like curing diseases or stopping global warming, but I believe art can strongly impact individual's lives. The article includes how "art is part of a universal force. It has no less purpose or meaning than science, religion, philosophy, politics, or any other discipline, and is as much a form of intelligence or knowing as a first kiss, a last goodbye, or an algebraic equation" (1). This statement stuck with me because oftentimes art is just looked at as an image, figure, or drawing. To me, art is much more than what is shown on the page or screen. I think that is also what Jerry Saltz was trying to get across by writing this article. According to "The Whole Ball of Wax," Saltz uses ideas from a philosopher named Mary Midgley to help refute